Hijacking Christmas

It seems that, every year, there’s a little less “Christ” in “Christmas”. I was buying wrapping paper the other day and noticed that there were images of snowmen, trees, and Santa Clauses on the paper but nothing even hinting at the birth of Jesus. I searched in vain for any sign that what we are celebrating is a Christian holiday. One may stumble across a nativity scene set tucked away in a lonely corner somewhere now and then but other than that, nothing.

Christmas has become a secular holiday in most of the Western world. It’s roots may go back to the West’s Christian heritage but between “Winter Festivals” and “Holiday Trees”, nothing much of that Christian heritage remains. They might as well hold Christmas two or three times a year, if nothing else, to help retailers have more opportunities to boost their revenues. Certainly consumers wouldn’t mind one or two more “Black Friday” sales a year.

And then it struck me: can you imagine anyone trying to hijack Ramadan, one of the five pillars of Islam, and turning it into a secular holiday? What about secularizing Hindu religious observances or trivializing Buddhist ones? There would be riots across the globe and Social Justice Warriors giving impassioned speeches denouncing the evils of “cultural appropriation”.

You see, the devil doesn’t mind if people observe holidays to false gods. False religions and the demons they worship (Leviticus 17:7, Deuteronomy 32:17, 1 Corinthians 10:20) will only ensure people’s damnation. It is only repentance and faith in Christ that will save a soul from eternal punishment in Hell. Is it no wonder then that the devil and his children (1 John 3:10) want to obscure any reference to The Messiah and Savior who’s birth we celebrate this time of year?

As God appears to have turned the Western world over to its sin; it is incumbent upon believers to be as blatantly Christian as we can be, especially during times of the year that, in the past, were always recognized as Christian holy days. We do this to celebrate our Savior, glorify God for His mercy, and be the light in an ever-darkening world, in the hopes that God will still save some in this culture that wants nothing more of Him than for Him to fade from its memory.